October 2008 snow in south England - Part 1

To see snow falling in England during October is unusual. To see snow falling in southern England during October is extremely unusual. To see snow falling and accumulating in southern England during October is extraordinary. To see snow falling and settling in central London during October is almost unheard of!

Background

On 28th October 2008 very cold Arctic air was covering the UK. Computer forecasting models had for close to a week signalled this, and some were indicating that a band of precipitation would push south across the country.

I had been watching this for several days and highlighted the possibility of snow falling in parts of England as early as Wednesday 22nd October. I was confident the computer models were onto something for 3 main reasons:

1) The air to the north of the UK had been colder than normal for this time of year meaning that if a northerly air stream developed temperatures would be lower than usual

2) The computer models were suggesting conditions would not be marginal, so there scope for it to be milder than forecast, but still cold enough for snow

3) Consistent output. Computer model updates were consistent for several days, which suggests a higher degree of confidence

The day itself

During Tuesday 28th October the band of precipitation developed and moved southwards to affect large parts of the Midlands and the home counties in particular. The precipitation started off as rain, but this quickly turned to snow in many places and started to settle. The area of rain, sleet and snow became very slow moving, with areas just north of London in the Chilterns stuck under it for several hours. Many places had several cm of snow, and even in central London there was a covering.

As the skies cleared during the night temperatures fell well below 0C freezing. Wednesday brought a bitterly cold, but sunny day for much of southern and central England, and amazingly the snow lingered all day.

The pictures below were taken in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, a market town on the edge of the Chilterns about 25 miles northwest of London.

I consider this to be one of the top 10 weather events I have witnessed in the UK. Here are a few pictures to bring this piece of weather history to life.

See October 2008 snow in south England - Part 2 for more images.

Issued 29/10/2008 © Brian Gaze (Updated 27/10/2023)

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